Doug Martsch
Encyclopedia
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
, is best known for his distinctive vocals and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
style in the band Built to Spill
Built to Spill
Built to Spill is an American indie rock band based in Boise, Idaho. The band has released seven full-length albums. Their most recent album, There Is No Enemy, was released on October 6, 2009.-History:...
. He has also worked with Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening
Beat Happening
Beat Happening is an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members...
in The Halo Benders
The Halo Benders
The Halo Benders was a band formed in 1994 as a side project by Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening and Doug Martsch of Built to Spill. They released their first album, called God Don't Make No Junk, in 1994...
. Martsch's first band was Farm Days, with Andy Capps and Brett Nelson
Brett Nelson
Brett Nelson is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist for the indie rock band Built to Spill....
in the early 80's. His second band was Treepeople
Treepeople
Treepeople was an alternative rock band from Boise, Idaho, although it spent most of its time and was officially based in Seattle, Washington. The band was composed of Pat Brown , Wayne Rhino Flower, Doug Martsch, and Scott Schmaljohn. It also included drummer Eric Akre on the critically acclaimed...
, with whom he released three albums and two EPs. Martsch has been the lead of Built to Spill since 1992.
With Built to Spill, Martsch developed a reputation as a preeminent indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
guitarist. Martsch's guitar style blends rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. His influences include J Mascis
J Mascis
J Mascis is an American musician, best known as the singer, guitarist and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr.. In 2011, he was ranked in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.- Biography :...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, Caustic Resin
Caustic Resin
Caustic Resin is an indie rock band from Boise, Idaho, who have released several albums for Up Records, Alias Records, and C/Z Records. The band is Brett Netson on guitar and vocals, Tom Romich, Jr. on bass guitar, and either James Dillion or Pat Perkins on drums...
, Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, and Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
.
In 2002, he released his first solo album, Now You Know, to critical acclaim.
Martsch is a vegetarian. He is married to Karena Youtz, the sister of former Built to Spill member Ralf Youtz
Ralf Youtz
Ralf Youtz is an American musician. Youtz was the original drummer in the Boise, Idaho-based indie rock band Built to Spill. He appeared on their 1993 debut album, Ultimate Alternative Wavers. Youtz was replaced by Andy Capps after the album's release, although he would work with Marstch again...
.
External links
- Ear Candy EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Doug Martsch at SeattlePI.com, November 10, 2006
- Martsch interview at CityPages.com, September 6, 2006
- Extensive interview with Martsch on public radio program/podcast The Sound of Young AmericaThe Sound of Young AmericaThe Sound of Young America is a public radio program and podcast based in Los Angeles, California and distributed by Public Radio International...
, June 17, 2006 - "Martsch Is GOD": An Interview With Doug Martsch at PopMatters.com, October 15, 2002
- Short review of album Doug played and sang on with Boise Cover Band